by Livia Grant
"I figured you'd call soon. I saw your flight landed."
"Yeah. We're ten minutes out. Everything quiet?" Lukus asked.
"Yeah. Josh and I just did another lap through the neighborhood, looking for any suspicious vehicles or pedestrians fitting Davenport's description. All's quiet outside."
"That's good, I guess." Lukus couldn't hide his anxiety.
"Hey, you don't spook easy. What's up?" Odd words of praise from his future brother-in-law.
"It's probably nothing. I just can't get through to either Markus or Derek. I got some texts from Tiffany when I landed, but even she isn't picking up."
Silence greeted him at the other end of the phone until he heard Aiden telling Josh to pull up to the back door. "I'm gonna head up and check in with them. I'll stay there until you get here."
"Thanks, man. I know I'm being a pussy, but do you mind if I hang out on the line until you get up there?"
Aiden's jovial laugh was a sound Lukus would have never thought he'd hear from the man who had sworn to beat his ass less than a month ago. "At least you recognize you're a pussy. That's the first step to recovery."
"Asshole."
Lukus could hear shuffling at the other end of the line and then a soft, "Fuck."
"What's wrong?"
"Does your elevator ever break? It's not coming, and the light isn't even lighting up… like it's on the fritz."
Alarm bells got louder in his ears. "It's never broken down. Ever. Take the stairs." He could hear Aiden running now. "And before you do, call in backup."
"I hit my distress alarm. Josh is calling in backup now."
Lukus pressed his already heavy foot down harder on the gas pedal, running traffic lights and stop signs. The building was in sight when he heard a now out-of-breath Aiden reaching the top of the seven flights of stairs.
Silence hung in the air. Lukus's anticipation turned to dread with two words from the cop at the other end of the line.
"Holy fuck."
The call dropped. And so did Lukus's stomach.
Tiffany
Tiffany woke in a panic, bile rising in her throat as fear gripped hard. It took her a few long seconds in her disoriented state to remember why.
Jake Davenport shot Markus and Derek and now he's going to rape Bri and me.
It took a moment for her to get her bearings. It hurt to move her head. She slowly scanned the space, realizing she was lying on the floor of a small foyer, on a level of the building new to her. A long, dark hallway stretched out in opposite directions off the vestibule. If she didn't know better, she'd swear they were in a hotel. Only the placard identifying the floor as 'The Punishment Playrooms' told her they were still in Lukus's building.
Deep down she wanted to curl up in a ball and sob, lie there, and wait to die. But as she listened to Jake Davenport tormenting her best friend with promises that her husband had just died at his hand, something stronger took root in Tiffany's heart. It wasn't fear or grief. It was sheer, unadulterated fury. How dare this asshole come into Lukus's home—her home—and hurt the people she loved?
Anger spurred Tiff onto her knees. She had to wait to catch her balance before pushing to her feet. She launched herself onto Jake's back, wrapping her legs around his waist from behind, attempting to strangle him as she locked her arm around his neck, pulling him away from Brianna.
She knew within seconds that he was too strong, but she had succeeded at one thing; he'd released Brianna. Tiffany prayed her best friend would scramble away to go get help, but Bri crumpled to the floor like a rag doll, sobbing.
The struggle lasted only seconds, but when Jake couldn't extricate himself from Tiffany's determined grip, he took large steps backwards, slamming her against the wall of the long hallway. The contact pressed the cell phone in her back pocket against her ass. She was praying it wasn't broken when the next blow knocked the wind out of her. She cracked her head against the wall again. The spots returned to her vision as she loosened her grip. Jake stepped forward, letting her collapse to the floor.
All she'd managed to do was to piss their captor off even more, but she didn't regret it. If they had a hope or a prayer of making it out of this alive, she needed to slow things down. Waste time. Keep them in the building as long as possible.
Jake stepped closer, leaning down to grab her long hair and yanking up, hard, pulling Tiff to her feet while simultaneously tearing chunks of blonde hair from her scalp.
When she was vertical, he gripped her by the upper arms, shaking her as he lectured her. "If I were you, I'd get with the program here, Tiffany. I'm taking notes, and believe me, you aren't going to like the dungeon I built for my little pain slut over there. Unlike Brianna, you're going to find the dozens of tortures I have planned for you more than you can bear. You're gonna end up wishing you'd died like Markus."
Brianna must have been semi-conscious because her forlorn wails of grief were renewed at his words.
Jake dislodged his pistol from his waistband, pointing it directly at Tiffany's throbbing forehead. "Now, I suggest you get over there, and get Brianna on her feet and moving."
She met his gaze with a steely resolve. "Lukus will come for us and when he does, you're going to die."
Jake's smile didn't reach his eyes. "Oh, I have no doubt Mitchell will try to find you, but I'm prepared to win our little game of hide-and-go-seek. Now move."
He stepped aside and shoved her towards Brianna. "Help her up and get moving to the right. We're going to the last door at the end of the hall."
Tiff walked as slowly as she could and took her sweet time crouching down to reach out to Brianna. She stroked the wet hair away from her friend's face to see that the skin around her right eye was beginning to bruise, having been struck by their captor. "He's going to be okay. You have to believe that."
Tiff barely caught her whisper. "Do you really think so?" Hope flickered in Bri's broken-hearted, brown eyes.
She wasn't going to dampen the first spark of hope she'd seen from Brianna since Jake had arrived. "I truly think so."
Brianna visibly released some of her tension at her best friend's words. Tiffany prayed she'd spoken the truth even as the cold steel of Jake's weapon connected with the skin at the back of her neck. One squeeze of his trigger and she'd be paralyzed for life at best—and dead, at worst. She forced herself to cooperate. "Come on. Let me help you up."
Once the women were on their feet, Jake shoved them to get them moving. They may have been going forward, but it was at a snail's pace, as Bri didn't move her feet, forcing Tiff to almost drag her. "I know you can move faster than that, Tiffany. Pick up the pace." Jake Davenport's voice simmered with evil behind her.
Tiffany held Brianna up as the women moved the way Jake wanted them to go. Her best friend was almost comatose in her fear and grief over Markus. As a result, Tiffany knew it was going to be up to her if they were going to get out of this alive.
She talked softly to Brianna in spite of the barrel of the gun now pressing into her lower back. "Come on, Bri. Can you walk?"
It was as if she'd never spoken. Tears streaked down Brianna's pale face. She was in shock. Unfortunately, Davenport didn't give a shit. When Brianna slumped to the floor and out of Tiff's grasp, he lost all patience, stepping around them, stuffing his gun into the waistband of his wrinkled dress slacks before leaning down to yank his captive up, throwing her over his shoulder as if she were a bag of flour.
He'd let go and Tiffany took advantage, edging backwards and running back the few feet to the elevator. She frantically pressed both the 'up' and 'down' buttons, determined to get away to bring help for Brianna—yet she never got the chance. Jake arrived at her side, slamming her forward against the cold metal of the lift door.
Tiff had to hand it to Jake; he was in superb physical condition. Despite having a woman over his left shoulder, he easily reached out to pinch the back of Tiffany's neck just before he started shoving her ahead of him, back in the direction he wanted her to go.
>
She switched tactics. If she couldn't stop him physically, she'd distract him. "So, what exactly is the plan here? Everyone will know who's responsible for our disappearance. The police will find you. Sure, maybe not before you kill us, but you're not going to get away with this."
Jake's chuckle was devoid of humor. "You think I'm stupid enough to not have a plan? I've been waiting for this day for a long time. I've made millions, but I've bided my time, waiting until the moment was right to retire to my private paradise, hidden away where not even your detective of a fiancé will find you. And let me be clear: I have no intention of killing you. I'm looking forward to sending him photos of you two occasionally… just often enough to let him know that you're still being punished, humiliated, and fucked in every hole every damn day for the rest of your life. No, killing you would be a waste."
Tiffany almost collapsed to the floor as Bri had before her at his sadistic promise. She wished he would just shut his fucking mouth, but then again, she'd asked the damn question, and it had had the desired effect. He wasn't pushing them forward as fast.
Lucky her. He drawled on. "You two are my retirement entertainment. Not only will I enjoy dominating you, but it's the ultimate revenge. Mitchell and Lambert fucked with my livelihood. I'm gonna fuck with something a bit more personal of theirs in return."
They'd arrived at a six-panel oak door. There was a keypad for entry and Tiffany assumed they were locked out, yet Davenport continued to amaze her by stepping up and punching in a six-digit code, springing the door's lock.
Jake shoved Tiff in ahead of him, slamming the heavy door closed behind them. He flicked a light switch, adding to the natural light streaming in through a wall of windows facing the city skyline, not unlike the view from the loft several floors above them. Hope flickered. They were so close to help. Tiff's mind raced for a way to draw that help to them.
Jake walked to the king-sized bed and threw Brianna off his shoulder. She bounced on the mattress.
His back was to Tiff just long enough for her to pull her cell phone out of her back pocket, quickly touching the speed dial for Lukus. She didn't dare lift the phone to her ear to see if he'd answered. She'd just have to pray he could hear her and, if not, at least get the message after he landed.
Keep the asshole talking, Tiff.
She shoved the phone back into her pocket just before Jake turned, praying it would still pick up sound. She had to get Lukus information on their location.
"So are you stupid or just arrogant? I would have never thought you'd hold us hostage in Lukus's building. I'd have thought you'd want to get away from here."
The madman turned on her, advancing quickly, grabbing her upper arms to shake her as he slammed her backwards into the door. "Don't you worry, we won't be here long. I just have to get you both restrained… and I might take enough time to screw you good, so I can have the pleasure of fucking you on Mitchell's home turf. He'll go to his grave with regret, knowing he couldn't protect his woman even in his own home."
Keep stalling.
"You're never going to get us out of the building. There's too much surveillance."
"That's the best part. We'll use the secret passageway into this room through the closet to escape. I'm sure Mitchell put it there for his own protection, so I'll take extra joy in using it to whisk you away from him, never to be seen again."
Fear of never seeing Lukus again invaded her. "You're wrong. He'll find us, and he will avenge us."
Jake pressed in closer, trapping her against the door. Her body shivered with revulsion. "Maybe. Maybe not. Either way, he'll spend the rest of his life imagining the horrendous things I'm doing to this body of yours. It's gonna kill him." Tiff had nowhere to go as Jake traced his fingers down her cheek and dropped lower to cup her full breast through her bra, constricting his grip until he was squeezing her painfully tight.
Tiff looked up into his eyes. She wished she hadn't. There was a kind of crazy there reserved for only the world's most demented individuals. His evil seeped into her blood stream, filling her with renewed dread.
Just when she thought she couldn't endure another second of the stare down with her captor, he broke eye contact. As if he'd got distracted, he released her and stepped away, taking long strides forward until he reached Bri, who was still lying on the bed. Tiff couldn't see exactly what he was doing, but when he stepped away again, Brianna was lying with her hands secured in front of her body with zip-ties, and Jake was striding back in Tiffany's direction.
There was no way she was going to allow him to restrain her. She needed to stay free if they had any hope of release. She held her hands out to block him, but Jake yanked her away from the door and swung her into the middle of the room, pouncing on her as she fought for her balance.
He growled with aggression as he grabbed the collar of her blouse and ripped it down the front, exposing her black lacy bra to his gaze. He had the zip-tie out, ready to restrain her, when the closet door crashed open, slamming the door into the wall as Lukus rushed through the opening, his gun drawn.
Lukus's arrival was a surprise to both Tiffany and Jake. Her relief only lasted a second and was quickly replaced with terror as Jake raised his weapon and pointed it directly at the love of her life. A commotion at the main door stole her attention away from Lukus in time to see Aiden rushing the room, his weapon drawn and his partner Josh on his heels.
Jake quickly snaked his arm around Tiffany's neck, pulling her in front of him as a shield as Lukus taunted him. "Drop it, Davenport."
"Nice of you to join us. You're just in time to say goodbye," Jake snarled.
"Do I really need to say goodbye? I'd rather just splatter your brains across the wall and be done with it."
Jake's grip around her neck tightened. Tiffany couldn't take her eyes off Lukus, praying it wouldn't be the last time they saw each other alive. Lukus was completely focused on the man holding the gun to her temple.
"You think you're invincible. I've already put Lambert in a body bag. It's up to you whether your fuckable fiancée here is going to be next or not," Jake went on.
For the first time, Lukus let his gaze connect with Tiff's. She saw fear flicker through his stormy green eyes before he steeled himself to taunt Jake again. "You're going to hurt her over my dead body."
Davenport's chuckle in her ear unnerved her. "That can be arranged."
From the corner of her eye, she detected Aiden and Josh moving closer, taking advantage of Jake's concentrated attention on Lukus. Determined to help the men who loved her, Tiffany locked eyes with Lukus again, this time sending him a silent message.
Time moved in slow motion. Lukus shook his head as if to stop her just as she lifted her free arm, pulling it down and back to land a hard elbow directly into Jake Davenport's ribs. His pained grunt was music to her ears, and his grip loosed on her neck.
Lukus leapt forward, focused on reaching her in time. He was running full out by the time he got to her, tackling her with the velocity of his lunge, and sending them both out of Jake's reach to topple to the floor. Tiffany landed so hard it knocked the wind out of her. Lukus landed heavily on top of her, wringing the last air from her lungs as he covered her body with his, protecting her with his life.
Three loud shots rang out, deafening the occupants of the small, enclosed room. Tiffany held stock still, praying those shots hadn't gone into Lukus. She hadn't felt him flinch in pain—a good sign. He moved off her just enough so that she could see Jake with three holes in the front of his shirt, spilling dark blood. His eyes were filled with incredulous surprise that he'd been bested.
Jake stumbled back until he slammed into the bedroom wall. Long red streaks of blood decorated the paint as he crumpled to the floor. His body shuddered one last time before he died, slumping over.
As her hearing returned, Tiffany could hear Brianna crying. The reality of how close they'd come to being kidnapped by Jake closed in, and Tiffany started to tremble.
Lukus stroked her body,
checking her out. "Shhh, baby, I've got you." From the corner of her eye, Tiffany saw her brother stepping closer, to look down on her with a concerned gaze. In that moment, she remembered her recurring nightmare; the one where her brother burst in to save her just as Aiden had done tonight. The only difference was that he was not looking down on her with disgust, as in her dream, but with love and relief.
Aiden holstered his weapon and reached out to pull them both to their feet. Tiffany was close to her brother, and recognized he was struggling with his emotions. He still held Lukus's hand in his own, gripping it hard, as if he didn't want to let it go.
He cleared his throat. "I may not like it, but you've convinced me that you do love my sister… since it appears you're willing to risk your life to save hers. That's all I can ask for."
The men were still shaking hands when Brianna's cry diverted their attention. "Tiffany! Lukus! Untie me. I need to get to Markus."
All occupants of the room grew somber as they remembered they weren't Jake's only victims.
Now that Davenport had been neutralized, Tiffany's fear for her friends returned as she brought the men up to speed. "He shot Markus and Derek. We need to get upstairs right away."
Aiden interjected. "You guys go. I'm gonna stay here until I can turn the scene over to the forensic guys."
Lukus rushed to the bed to release a crying Brianna. He drew out his utility knife and cut the zip-ties to free her. "I can't live without him, Lukus." She clung to him in desperation.
Lukus tried to comfort her. "You won't need to, sweetheart."
"Promise?"
"Promise." Lukus's eyes connected with Tiffany's, looking for reassurance that he wasn't lying. However, despite her earlier assertion to Bri, Tiffany couldn't make a promise that Markus would be okay any more than Lukus could.